


Underwear Origami

by Einzel



Category: Free!
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 05:56:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17482439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Einzel/pseuds/Einzel
Summary: What is domestic life without a bit of whimsical fun?





	Underwear Origami

**Author's Note:**

> Original prompt: "Things Couples Can Do Together - Clean together" from [this prompt list!](http://die-einzelganger.tumblr.com/post/182032790258/things-couples-can-do-together)

It was well past noon when Nagisa sashayed into the living room, a laundry basket in his hands. Refusing to part with it even for a second, he backed up to the balcony door, dragged it open with one shoulder planted against the wooden frame, and twirled around to the twin clothes racks outside. Shirt sleeves swayed in the gentle summer breeze, soft and fragrant – the smell of a new, better home. Nagisa rubbed his hands together and the harvest began in gleeful hurry; he stopped only to admire his favorite items in the sunlight (all of them Rei’s), and to gather their underwear into two bunches. After a bit of fabric tetris, he managed to fit everything into the basket and turned from the racks with a grin on his face…

“There you are, Nagisa-kun,” Rei came striding across the living room, nearly startling Nagisa into dropping his basket.

_ “Rei-chaaan,” _ he groused, “don’t scare me like that! I thought you weren’t gonna be home for a while!”

“I thought so too, but the queue was shorter than I had expected,” Rei propped his hands on his hips with a contented smile. “And I see I’m just in time to help you with laundry!”

“It’s okay, I can do it!” insisted Nagisa, but Rei wagged a finger.

“No, no, it’s only fair we should do it together, and besides, I can’t have you taking my underwear and folding them into otedamas again!”

“Well,  _ I _ thought they were neat,” Nagisa puffed his cheeks in defiance.

“They were certainly  _ something,” _ Rei gave him a look.

“It’s not my fault Rei-chan can’t appreciate art,” Nagisa averted his eyes with a mock pout. Rei spluttered.

_ “I appreciate art! _ Normally I would encourage it, too, but folding underwear into otedamas is just not practical! What even gave you the idea in the first place?”

“I just wanted to do something special for you,” Nagisa brushed the floor with his foot. “Now that we’re together, I just want to make everything special…”

Rei sighed, but his features softened considerably as he replied,

“You don’t have to try so hard, Nagisa-kun. Every day we spend together is already special to me.”

When Nagisa lifted his eyes again, his lips twitched into a sheepish smile. Rei stepped over and pecked his cheek.

“And now we shall do the laundry together. Some of these need ironing, and once I’m finished, I’ll show you my own folding techniques. Are you prepared to be dazzled, Nagisa-kun?”

Nagisa flashed him a cheeky grin.

“Will Rei-chan fold my underwear into butterflies?”

Rei stared at him baffled.

“Why on earth would I do that?”

“Well, I folded yours into otedamas, so now it’s your turn to do something unique! I think, if Rei-chan tried,” he locked eyes with his fiancé, “you could even make a bunch of underwear beautiful!”

_ “Beautiful…” _ whispered Rei, his eyes widening at the challenge. “V-Very well, Nagisa-kun, I’ll try for your sake.”

“Hooray!” Nagisa pirouetted past him, his cheeks glowing in triumph. Rei joined him in a minute, silent and pensive, and remained so as he ironed their shirts and trousers. Nagisa, well aware that Rei was pondering his options, assisted him properly until all that remained were the two bunches of underwear. Rei cleared his throat.

“Please hand me a pair of your underwear, Nagisa-kun.”

Nagisa did so. Rei placed one in front of him, then placed the other one on top at an angle and folded the whole in half.

“There, you see? It’s in profile… what’s so funny, Nagisa-kun?!”

“It’s  _ perfect, _ Rei-chan,” Nagisa giggled on,  _ “you’re perfect.” _

**Author's Note:**

> Please don’t ask how Nagisa managed to fold Rei’s underwear into otedamas, I honestly couldn’t tell you, but if you were wondering, my thought pattern went like this: lately I’ve been playing Neko Atsume, and a new cat called Quicksilver showed up, who recently became my friend and gave me an otedama as a memento. I googled what that was, and happened upon a craft video for making otedamas. And then I got this prompt, and I wondered what to do with “folding laundry,” and that’s when my brain connected the two saying, Nagisa would totally do this.
> 
> Speaking of Nagisa, he would have made the butterfly by folding one pair of underwear each at an angle for wings, and then rolling up a third pair to put between them as the body. Rei conceded that it was more true to form, but it just wasn’t economical to lay them out like that.


End file.
